I am not among those who have clambered aboard the bandwagon named Euphoria following the election of Barack Obama.

A man who could not muster the courage to acknowledge his roots, his heritage and his paternal pedigree, and in fact openly sought to distance himself from it for the sake of political expediency, is to me just another wily politician surrounded by the usual clique of hangers-on.

The man’s middle name is Hussein. I wonder if he knows what the name means, and in which language. He could have dumped the name as a potential political liability, but he didn’t. One likes to think that he maintained it for a reason other than related to a legal issue.

He lived in Indonesia as a child. Both his real father and step-father had Islamic family origins, and his white mother had no problems marrying them. The religion no doubt shaped their character and outlook towards life, which they passed on to their children, either genetically, socially or culturally.

In pursuing the presidency, Mr. Obama faced two huge handicaps: a) being a mixed-race African-American and b) having Islamic family roots.

Of the two, he sought only to convert the first negative into a positive.

His message to the American public was to move beyond the archaic parochialism of skin colour. His handlers pushed racial unity as a sign of a new-found American maturity in a globalised world.

No such luck for Muslims and Islam, however. This side of Mr. Obama was downplayed with the same off-handish disdain and prejudice as the blacks themselves would have faced a mere 20 years ago.

Today, being a Muslim in the deep fundamentalist Christian heartland of the U.S. is the same as being a “nigger” in the erstwhile white supremacist southern states in the 1930s or 40s.

Various offensive attempts were made to attack Mr. Obama’s Islamic roots and question his patriotism. The digging up of Mr. Obama’s friendship with Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. , Senior Pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ, was a case in point.

While he vigorously positioned himself as a committed Christian, patriotic American and proud African-American, never did he say that there was nothing wrong either with being a Muslim-American, or having roots in a religion followed by 1.2 billion people of the world and countries that supply the U.S. with most of its oil.

The reason is not difficult to establish.

A politician is beholden to three groups – his/her financiers, voters and the immediate team of strategists, planners, communicators, speech-writers, etc. Of these groups, it is the latter who “control” the candidate, prepare his script and make sure he sticks to it.

In recent weeks, members of this team have been identified. Mr. Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, is a Jewish-American. His chief advisor on Middle East issues is Dennis Ross, a Jewish-American. His chief-of-staff, the first person Mr. Obama is set to appoint, is likely to be Rahm Emanuel, a Jewish-American.

Analyse Mr. Obama’s pre-election June 2008 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or his July 2008 visit to Middle East (all easily googleable) and it becomes quite clear that, like all good politicians, Mr. Obama knew well which side of his bread needed to be buttered.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama visited a number of synagogues, including one of the larger ones in Florida, but he never, ever came even remotely near a mosque.

By contrast, two Muslim women wearing a “hijab” (habit) were removed from the backdrop of the photo-ops at the August 2008 Democratic National convention where Mr. Obama won his party’s nomination.

Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. President who has done more to bring peace to the Middle East thanks to his mediatory role in the Camp David accords, could not even get a speaking slot at the same Democratic Convention because his views on Palestinian suffering and statehood were considered to be offensive to Mr. Obama’s rich Jewish-American backers.

According to one media report, “Convention organizers honored Carter with only a short video clip highlighting his work with Hurricane Katrina victims and a brief walk across the Pepsi Center stage.”

In his victory speech, Mr. Obama thanked his immediately family, his brothers and sisters and remembered his late grandmother, but never once mentioned his mother or father/s.

Instead, one line sounded eerily reminiscent of George W. Bush’s sabre-rattling “war on terror” rhetoric. “To those – to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you.”

As Robert Fisk, probably the best-informed Western correspondent in the Middle East pointed out in an interview with Al Jazeera, the word “justice” was not uttered once in the speech.

So, America may have changed its outlook towards African-Americans, and will reap a huge payback as its image rises worldwide, and American companies win contracts in the world’s next energy frontier, Africa.

But at the end of the day, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Promising change and delivering it are two different things. Those who are affected by the change to come will fight tooth and nail to thwart it.

After all, didn’t George W Bush promise a Palestinian state all through his presidency? So where is it? He also appointed the first African-Americans as secretaries of state, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. Neither proved to be great peacemakers.

A great politician gains power by making great promises, and winning the electorate’s trust. He becomes a great leader only by earning that trust and fulfilling those promises, even if it means putting principle above political expediency.

In electing Mr. Obama, the U.S. public overcame its racial prejudices. But he still needs to help the U.S. public overcome its prejudices against 1.2 billion people whose religion is also part of his heritage, whether he likes it or not.

Peace Through Tourism

How Travel & Tourism Can Help Restore the Balance in the Emerging New World Order

"The travel & tourism buzzword of the 21st century will be the search for balance."

That forecast was made by Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire, in the monthly strategic intelligence publication of PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, way back in February 1999. Today, it is proving spot-on as the word "balance" resonates across all industry sectors.

Travel industry conferences seeking a speaker who can offer some unique historical hindsight, unconventional foresight and thought-provoking insight on how to rebuild and restore the balance in Asia Pacific travel & tourism can email Imtiaz Muqbil by clicking here.

There Can Be No Sustainability Without Spirituality

The New World Order will be dominated by a resurgence of spirituality.

Imtiaz Muqbil claims to be the world's only travel journalist to have visited the Holy Spots of all the major world religions -- Lumbhini, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Nalanda, Jerusalem, Vatican City, Amritsar, Makkah, Madinah, Najaf and Karbala, as well as religious spots such as Angkor Wat, Bagan, Shwedagon Pagoda, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Temple of The Tooth, Somnath Temple, Samarkand, Bukhara and many other great mosques, shrines, temples and cathedrals worldwide.

Sustainability, ecotourism and health & wellness travel have all become so 'yesterday'. Prepare for the new generation of travel in the New World Order and raise the bar of your next conference, management forum or seminar by hearing Imtiaz Muqbil's thoughts on this unmatched game- and life-changing experience.

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Secrets of Thailand's Tourism Success

Why the Amazing Kingdom is notching up record-breaking arrivals, and what challenges it faces next

The Thai tourism industry has become by far the Kingdom's most successful service sector, one of its leading job-creators and foreign exchange-earners. Behind this success lies a fascinating history of great branding campaigns, policy and regulatory changes, budgetary bunfights, strategic thinking and influence of Royal events.

But this success has now bred a new set of management challenges that may be more difficult to overcome.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has been monitoring the pulse of the Thai travel industry full-time since 1981. Industry conferences and management meetings wishing to benefit from a treasure trove of insights and hindsights on one of the world's great tourism success stories can drop an email here: imtiaz@travel-impact-newswire.com.

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The Rise of the Whistle-Blowers

For 15 years (January 1997-July 2012), Imtiaz Muqbil penned a hard-hitting fortnightly column called “Soul-Searching” in the so-called “newspaper you can trust”. In July 2012, the column was gagged, with no explanation.

Over the years, four columns had explicitly forecast the rise of whistle-blowers -- a prediction now coming 100% true. Read the four columns by clicking on the links below.

Too Bad Your Ad Is Not in This Spot

Space available for unique ads that demonstrate commitment to helping physically-challenged people, building global peace, improving social and cultural cohesion, providing opportunities for the under-privileged, alleviating poverty and combatting global injustice & corruption.

If your product is not meeting any of the above goals, please advertise elsewhere.

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News Vs Noise

A Unique Course for Travel & Tourism Communicators In The Internet Era

By far the vast majority of media communications in the travel industry is boring, banal and bland. The same way it has been for the last 30 years.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has designed a special communications course to help upgrade both the context and the content of industry media material, and make it more interesting, readable and, most important, relevant.